Friendship From Fear
by Percyjacksonfan3
Summary: The night of the events at the House of Hades Leo finds Annabeth watching TV with a sleeping Percy next to her. When they start talking and Annabeth reveals one of her biggest fears to Leo he's not sure how to respond- all he knows is that he hopes with all his soul that it isn't true. Crap summary but decent story! Leo/Annabeth and Leo/Percy friendship!


**Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

_"She looked at me, like she was drinking in the fact that I was still here. And I realized I was doing the same thing. The world was collapsing and all that mattered to me was that she was alive."- Percy Jackson, The Last Olympian_

_"He didn't think much of fate and prophecies, but he did believe in one thing: Annabeth and he were supposed to be together." -Percy Jackson, The House of Hades_

_"I mean sure, she'd always been cute. But she was starting to be seriously beautiful." -Percy Jackson, The Last Olympian_

_"When she kissed me, I had the feeling that my brain was melting right through my body." - Percy Jackson, The Last Olympian_

_"Annabeth pressed her lips to Percy's ear. 'I love you.'_  
_She wasn't sure if he could hear her- but if they were going to die she wanted those to be her last words." -Annabeth Chase, The House of Hades_

_"Her voice caught on the end of the word friend. Percy was a lot more than that. Even boyfriend really didn't cover it. They'd been through so much together, at this point Percy was part of her- a sometimes annoying part sure, but definitely a part she couldn't live without." -Annabeth Chase, The House of Hades_

_oooOOOooo_

Leo shut off the controllers to the Argo II, setting the ship on autopilot for the night. After the day everyone had just had he figured they could all use some sleep.

He went room to room, shutting off lights and closing doors, checking that no one was still up having a mental breakdown or pigging out on the blue cupcakes that Percy and Annabeth had insisted on making practically the second they got back onto the ship from Tartarus.

He poked his head into the room that had adopted a living room feel to it. Couches, chairs, a coffee table and a tv, this room was where the demigods came to just hang out and talk when they didn't feel like sitting in the ship's council room.

The light was off but the TV was still playing- some National Geographic crap that Leo was going to shut off- when he heard someone move. His head whipped around to the couch and what he saw surprised him.

"Annabeth?" Leo asked in surprise. "What are you still doing here?"

"Sshh!" She told him, meeting his eyes in the gloom of the room, the only light coming from the TV. "Percy's asleep."

Leo looked around in surprise before realising that Percy was there; in fact he was taking up 3/4 of the couch with his head resting on Annabeth'a lap, snoring softly.

He nodded. "Okay," he whispered. "So what are you doing here? Everyone else is asleep."

She shrugged. "Lost track of time I guess."

It was a lie if Leo ever heard one. Annabeth didn't lose track of time, she planned things out to the second. Maybe she had just needed to get away with her boyfriend, spend some time alone and relax watching TV.

But if that was the case why had she lied?

"Yeah," Leo replied absently. "Hey, mind if I join you?"

She was quiet a moment before speaking. "Sure. Just don't wake Percy, he never really got much sleep while we- when we were down in Tartarus. He needs his rest."

"Right, of course." Leo replied and he made his way over to the couch beside her, sitting as close as he could which was a few feet away. He noticed she was in her pajamas, baby blue shorts and a black tank top, and he saw Percy was wearing his pj pants and an old t-shirt. Leo himself was dressed in jeans and a Camp shirt spotted with grease and oil stains. He hadn't been to his room yet.

The day had been a whirlwind. Everything that had happened at the House of Hades, Percy and Annabeth coming back, Nico, Coach Hedge and Reyna leaving for Camp Half-Blood... Leo was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open.

And this show wasn't helping. It was about swans. Seriously. A whole 40 minute show based on the white birds. Leo found them boring- hello, they just swam around a pond- and after 5 minutes he found his eyes continually drifting shut and his head starting to loll downwards.

And throughout it all Annabeth didn't say a thing. Leo saw she just stroked Percy's hair subconsciously and watched the television, although it didn't look like she was focusing on the screen and it's contents at all.

After about 10 minutes Leo was snapped awake when she finally spoke.

"Did you know swans mate for life?"

Leo's eyes opened and he looked at her, surprised at the avenue her thoughts had gone. "Umm... no? Although I think Piper may have mentioned it one time..."

Annabeth mute the TV and looked over at him, their eyes meeting. "Do you believe in love, Leo?"

Again he was surprised at the question but he forced himself to think, not read too much into it. Love? A year ago he would have told her no, not a chance. Even a month ago he might have said that.

But now? After feeling something with Calypso that he had never felt for any girl before? His first kiss. She had been no passing crush. Leo thought about her constantly every day, could still remember everything about her from the way she walked and smelled to the way her lips had felt on his. The jealousy he felt when he saw Percy again because he knew that Calypso had loved him and Percy had left her. Not that Leo could blame him, not really. Percy had had a reason.

After seeing how Percy and Annabeth were around each other, her behaviour when he had been missing made sense. He saw those private smiles they shared, the way they looked at each other, built their entire lives around each other. Anyone who had seen the pair fight as a duo knew just how formidable they were, knew just how well they worked together, a well oiled machine that was in no danger of going haywire anytime soon.

So when he told her "yes," he was telling the truth.

She nodded and was staring at the silent screen, not looking at him anymore. "Do you think anyone in love ever really get happy endings?"

Shock and a little bit of worry overcame him. "Annabeth..." he said, "why are you asking me this?"

She shrugged and looked down at Percy. "No reason. It's just I've never seen anyone in love before. And all the books and movies I've read and watched... the people in them are either happy together- not in love, but happy- and live happily ever after. But the people in love... they're all doomed. One of them either dies or they both die together after defeating some sort of enemy and they never actually get to just live together and be happy and create great memories to hold on to when they're left alone. They all have to go through all these miserable things or change their very selves and they can't be happy when they're whole and sane and happy before a huge battle or something. They can only live forever after they've almost been damaged irrevocably by some sort of thing. And sometimes I just- I wonder..."

She was sort of shaking by the time she took a deep breath and paused and Leo could see some sort of emotion in her eyes, something that made him wonder if she was really as alright as she wanted most people to believe.

"And I know what Percy and I have is love, nothing could ever convince me otherwise, but Leo what if our love is- is doomed in some way? What if we're just another couple from a book and one of us is going to die in this war or something else happens and- and-" She was breathing shallowly and her eyes were frantic but after a moment's silence- because Leo had no idea what he could say to her at this moment- she regained control. "I can't live without him," she murmured staring down at Percy, still stroking his hair. "If anything ever happened to him and he was taken from me... I don't know what I'd do Leo."

He cleared his throat, finding a sudden lump in it, and suddenly he couldn't meet Annabeth's eyes. He looked at the two swans on the television screen and found they were making that universal sign of love, where they bend their necks to form a heart and press their heads together. That just made him swallow again because suddenly his mouth was very dry.

"Make sure nothing ever happens to him then," he suggested like it was the simplest thing in the world, although he knew it really wasn't.

"I try, gods know I try," Annabeth shook her head hopelessly. "But I can't shake this feeling that something's going to happen and I won't be able to stop it. And we all know that Percy's going to have to make some sort of sacrifice and I can't help but think that maybe- not to sound conceited, but maybe..."

Now Leo finally caught on to what Annabeth was thinking and found himself shaking his head. "No," he said and was surprised at how fierce it came out. "It won't be you Annabeth, there's no way. Percy would never be able to give you up."

"That's what I'm worried about," Annabeth almost whispered the words and Leo couldn't see her facial expression in the dark but he wondered if that catch in her voice was tears. "I don't want to hurt him. I'd never want that."

Leo was shaking his head as the fear gripped him, the sudden suspicion that Annabeth may be right. But he rejected the thought with everything he had because this was Annabeth. The girl who had almost killed Piper, Jason and him the first day they met. The tough, smart girl who had recovered the Athena Parthenos and had defeated Arachne for gods sakes. There was no way the Fates would be that cruel. Not to take Percy and Annabeth away from each other. "It'll be some sort of place, or maybe a friend. It could even be one of the rest of us." It was a terrible thing to say but Leo just knew that if it was Annabeth, Percy would break. If it was one of the rest of the Seven... he could survive that. "Or- or Nico, or Grover or Thalia... someone, anyone, but you."

Annabeth was quiet for a second and Leo really wished she would say something because the thoughts going around in his head were seriously starting to freak him out. "You're probably right," she said after a bit. "It was just a feeling." She looked back down at Percy and a soft, small smile crossed her lips. "I'm going to bed," she said finally. "You coming? We can just leave Percy here."

Leo shook his head. "Nah," he replied with forced ease. "I'll stay and watch some TV." He had been dead tired a half hour ago but now he knew he would never get to sleep with the thoughts going around his head. "You go."

She smiled at him and her gray eyes looked calmer than they had minutes ago, albeit still a bit worried. "If he wakes up tell him I'm asleep so he doesn't worry. But he'll probably sleep through the night, Zeus knows that boy's impossible to wake up once he gets to sleep."

Leo mustered up a weak grin and nodded. "Yeah sure."

She gave him one last smile and carefully placed Percy's head down on the couch cushions and stood up. "Night, Leo."

He nodded. "Night, Annabeth."

It was quiet for a second after she softly closed the door behind her.

And then Percy's voice, sounding slightly strangled, pierced the darkness. "Does she really think," he said and Leo could practically see him gritting his teeth, "that I would ever let anything happen to her?"

He jumped and looked over, seeing the son of Poseidon laying on his back, staring at the ceiling with his arms crossed. Leo could see the muscles standing out from the glow of the TV which meant Percy was working very hard to control his temper.

"Holy Hera! Dude, you can't just scare me like that!" Leo exclaimed in surprise.

Percy didn't say anything but Leo caught sight of his throat working furiously and suddenly he realized that Percy must have heard most of Annabeth and his conversation. He let out a breath, suddenly not in the mood to deal with emotions anymore. He just wanted to go to sleep and wake up happy tomorrow because they were finally all together again, the unstoppable team of Seven.

But the life of a demigod is never so easy.

"How much did you hear?" He asked Percy.

All the fight seemed to go out of Percy and he let out a long breath, sinking into the couch. "All of it, I think," he said back quietly. "From the part where she asked you if you thought love was real.

"Oh," Leo replied dumbly, still not quite sure what to say. He had never been as close to Percy as he was with Annabeth. Probably cause the day they had met Leo had blown up the place Percy had come to call a home in the week he had been there but maybe it was cause Leo just seemed to be more at ease with girls. "She said herself it was just a feeling," he said, trying to offer some sort of consolation.

"Right," Percy snorted. "That was a lie if I ever heard one, Annabeth meant every word she said. Besides," Percy added quietly, almost defeatedly, a second later. "Her feelings are usually right."

"Hey," Leo said. "Don't talk like that. We're all going to be fine. We'll smash Gaea and her giants right in their ugly faces and then go back to Camp Half-Blood as gods or something. We'll win," he said a bit quieter, "and we'll win together. This sacrifice or whatever that you're gonna have to make? It's probably nothing. Gaea saying things to make you think-"

"But it wasn't just Gaea," Percy interrupted. "Ares said it to Frank too. Ask him yourself if you don't believe me. Although," Percy added bitterly, "Ares isn't the most reliable god out there."

"Oh," Leo said again. "It could just be, like, giving up your sword or something. Maybe letting Jason kill a giant you really wanna kill? That's a sacrifice, right?"

"Sure," Percy replied. "But not one that anybody would think I was incapable of making."

Leo sighed, giving up. There was nothing he could say. He couldn't tell the future, wasn't Rachel or Apollo. He couldn't change the will of the Fates. "Prophecies suck," he offered up finally.

Percy laughed, a bitter, shattered laugh. "Got that right. I've been the subject of them way too many times." Suddenly he didn't sound like Percy Jackson, Hero of Olympus, defeater of giants and titans. He just sounded like a 16 year old kid who was sick of fighting and losing things important to him. Who was tired of always having to deal with so much crap and responsibility. And that's when it really struck . "At least you have your friends," Percy said. "Sometimes, during the titan war, I felt completely alone."

"I know how that feels," Leo said. "Me always being the third or seventh wheel or whatever."

Percy sighed. "Yeah, but you'll find someone. Guys like you always do. You make girls fall in love with you without even realizing it."

"How do you know?" Leo asked, Calypso's face flashing in his mind.

Percy smiled and it was a sad sort of smile, almost regretful but not quite. For a moment Leo thought maybe he was thinking of Calypso too. "Cause that's what happened to me," he finally said. "And it works out in the end. For everyone."

"Yeah?" Leo asked, surprised at the comparison Percy made of the both of them. If anything Percy was more like Jason, everything Leo wanted to be but wasn't.

Percy nodded although Leo couldn't see it. "Annabeth pointed it out to me," he said. "And it's true, you and I are pretty alike." He turned his head so hs sea green eyes pierced Leo's. "I just hope you don't have the crappy luck I do."

Leo laughed. "I don't think anybody could have as bad of luck as you do," Leo tried to joke but it fell flat.

"Yeah," Percy sighed. "But if I've learned anything it's that you gotta just grit your teeth and do whatever you need to do, ya know? It's the only way you survive these messes."

Leo nodded thoughtfully. "What- what was it like?" He asked hesitantly. "The Titan War I mean."

Percy blew out a long breath. "It sucked," he said simply but the emotion behind those words made Leo think it was much, much worse than that. "So many of my friends died and I couldn't help but think that it was my fault, because I was born and had this prophecy about me..." He stopped himself. "I hope this war isn't as bad as that, I hope there isn't even a war," Percy said. "But I have a feeling it's going to be a lot worse."

Leo nodded, not wanting to know anymore. "I hope you're wrong on that."

"Me too," Percy said. "Believe me, me too."

They were quiet for a bit and Leo searched through the channels on the TV, not looking at Percy. He figured the guy wanted to be left alone to his own thoughts.

Percy sighed eventually. "I should get to sleep," he muttered. "Tomorrow will probably be a long day and I haven't really had a full night's sleep since..."

He trailed off but Leo knew what he meant. "Before Tartarus," he finished. "Yeah dude, that's cool. I think I'll head to my bed too."

Percy nodded and got up, making his way to the door. Leo shut off the TV and made his way after Percy in the darkness.

They walked in silence down the hallway where all the rooms where. When Percy finally reached his room he paused a second, hand on the door handle.

"Hey Leo?" He called out softly, not wanting to wake the others.

"Yeah?" Leo asked back.

Percy offered a smile, one Leo had only recieved from Jason before. Like they were friends. "Just so you know, the rest of us don't consider you a seventh wheel. Sometimes I think you're the only one who keep us from killing each other."

Leo was surprised and oddly touched at the remark, kind of stunned Percy had even noticed how badly the thought had plagued Leo. "Thanks man," Leo said. "You're a pretty cool guy."

Percy nodded, as if to himself. "We're all gonne be fine," he said. "Gaea's going down and we're all gonna be right there when she does."

Leo smiled and for a second he believe it. It was obvious to see why Percy was such a good leader. Leo was pretty sure he could handle himself in a war, Hades he had done it before. It was good to know that there was someone strong enough to take care of the rest of them if they ever needed it. "Night man."

"Night."

They were going to win, Leo thought to himself. Gaea was going down, right back to sleep where she belonged.

And nobody was going to die.

oooOOOooo

**I'm not really sure where this came from but I was looking on Tumblr and saw all these Twitter posts from Rick that made me fear/suspect that maybe- maybe he would do the unthinkable and break up our favourite couple. In fact I think there was a post where he said he 'just wrote the end of everyone's favourite pair' or something along those lines. **

**Can someone please tell me we all have another favourite couple? **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this to some degree. I just picture Leo as being someone both Percy and Annabeth can talk to and he's so great that I love him. **

**Tell me what you think? Maybe in a review?**

**Love you all!**

**Percyjacksonfan3**


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